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Africa Campaign (ww1)
Ottoman Empire and German Empire fought against Britain and French in Africa. Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer Egypt but failed, while France and Britain took all German colonies in Africa. Great Britain France |teamB= German Empire Ottoman Empire |teamC= Ethiopian Empire |cmdA= Heinrich Schnee Jafar al-Askari |cmdC= Empress Zewditu |cmdB= Reginald Wingate François Joseph Clozel}} Background Germany had been getting uncolonized lands in Africa since it was formed. It made the traditional colonial empires, mainly Allied Powers, felt uncomfortable. Ethiopia, under Zewditu rule, started a reform. Although it was not supported by the Empress, it still succeed. The Ethiopians chose German as their learning target, and besides learning military knowledge, the German influenced them into a pro-central nation. German Colonies France and Britain, after stuck in Western Front, decided to start new frontiers, for example Africa. They had a strong colonial army and skills that easily wiped German out. East Africa German troops in East Africa, led by Heinrich Schnee, started guerrilla warfare there. The Allied forces, due to the brilliant leadership of Meiinrich Schnee, could not defeat the Germans but to camp them and surround them. Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire tried to make Egypt back to their control. 12 January 1917, a joint force of German Empire and Ottoman Empire crossed the Suez Canal. The Austrian-Hungarian navy bombard the Suez Canal so they met not much resistance when passing. However, once British navy arrived, they savagely parked their battleships in Suez Canal, ignored the escaping Austria-Hungarian navy, and started bombing the landed forces. The British garrison in Egypt also came to support the war. Soon the Ottomans were defeated and fled down to Sudan, trying to escape to Ethiopia or German East Africa. Ethiopia Ethiopia can be counted as the greatest victorious in the battle. They took Sudan, Somalia and some territories in their southern border. They declared their neutrality so they were neither Central Powers nor Allied Powers. However, they were pro-Central Powers. Battle of Somalia 25 March 1916, knowing that France faced some failure in Western Front, they started invaded French Somalia. British forces in Somalia came to support the France, but was not a match against the Ethiopians, in number. Italian Somalia faced the same result. Battle of Sudan German-Ottoman forces, losing Battle of Cairo, fled south. Ethiopia sent a force to "friendly capture" the troops, rearmed them, and with some Ethiopian troops, attacked Sudan. The garrisons in Egypt had never expected so, so they were ill-prepared. Since the British navy had returned, with lack of naval support in coastal cities, the Ethiopians landed and captured Southern Sudan fast, until stopped by United Kingdom reinforcement in 20 July. July offensive The Ethiopians, having victories after victories, attacked West in 1 July. They were handsomely defeated by the joint force of Great Britain, volunteers in Belgium Congo and Dominion of South Africa in 23 July. Trenches were dug and the frontiers stuck again. Campaign in Yeman Ethopian troops, named "Afrika Volunteer Troops", were sent to Yeman with Ottoman Empire to attack British there. They captured North Yeman. Result Theoretically, no Central Powers colonies were still existing in Africa. However, Ethiopian success made some of the African nations wished to gain independence. Egypt later declared independence successfully, however others failed. British Egypt government turned to Alexandrian.